OUTsurance Group Limited, the listed holding company which has an 89.8% interest in short-term insurer OUTsurance , reported flat growth in normalised earnings for the six months ended 31 December 2023 on Monday.
The lower earnings were attributed to the impact of higher natural perils claims incurred, most prominently in Australia due to adverse weather events in December 2023. Another factor was the start-up costs of its new business venture in Ireland. OHL’s insurance business claims ratio increased from 54.4% to 59.1%, due to R678 million higher natural claims incurred by Youi – its Australian insurance segment.Its new business premiums in the six months to the end of December grew by 38.8%, while gross written premiums increased by 22.5%. Normalised return on equity over the period is 26.1%.